Through the Glass, Darkly
by Morrigayn DeWyvern
Summary: Gift fic for Dragonrider 10. Based on Sick Mind and Out of His Head in my Cultural Confusion AU. Optimus has Cybonic Plague.
1. Chapter 1

Through the Glass, Darkly

_A/N: This is a gift fic for Dragonrider10. For the record, I do not turn down requests. I take it as a challenge to write as well as praise as someone likes my writing enough to ask for more. It may take me awhile, but I do get around to all requests as well as finishing my longer works. This is based on the "Sick Mind" & "Out of His Head" episodes of Transformers: Prime, but it is set in my __Cultural Confusion__ AU sometime after CC and before __Sired Betrayal__. _

Ratchet watched in mute horror as the bodies of the plague victims flailed and jostled in the shifting Autobot shipwreck. Primal fear for life sending strong fight or flight impulses through his circuitry rendering him stunned as he watched Optimus lose his footing and fall. Ratchet watched in bemusement as the infected fluids from the corpse fell into the optics of his Prime.

Ratchet roused from his stupor "Come on, Prime, let's get out of here and flush your optics."

Ratchet roughly hauled Optimus Prime to his peds and quickly dragged the Prime out of the derelict ship into the silver moonlit desert. Ratchet frantically pushed Optimus to his knees his motions rough with fear.

"Lean forward!" Ratchet commanded as he transformed one of his digits into a small siphon tube and began to pump energon into Optimus' optics. Optimus flinched at the burning sensation.

"Hold still!" Ratchet groused and upped the rate of flow hoping to flush most of the Cybonic plague virus from Optimus' optics.

Ratchet stopped the flow of energon and gently lifted the Prime's faceplates up and ran a scan as he took a cleaning cloth from his storage and began to gently wipe the Prime's faceplates clean. Optimus was ventilating heavily and coolant was running from his optics.

"Old Friend, do you think we flushed the plague before it could infect me?" Optimus asked cautiously hopeful.

Ratchet shook his helm in the negative, "I don't know. Our optics are more permeable than most of our protoform and is energon dense. All it will take is one plague virus penetrating your optic membranes."

Optimus just nodded as he stood. Ratchet removed a sealed waste container to put the infected cloth as well as the energon and plague soaked sand at their peds into the container. It would be destroyed in a decontamination unit back in the base. Ratchet stuffed the cleaning cloth into the container and ran scans on the sand to find all traces of energon and the plague scooping for a long while. While Cybonic plague was harmless to organics and the electronics on this planet, Ratchet could not in all good conscience as a doctor leave it laying around for an unwary bot of either faction to accidentally stumble upon.

Ratchet stood and looked up at the Prime. "Oh, Primus!" Ratchet could see the beginnings of necrosis from the plague at the edges of the right optic lens of Optimus.

"I know, Old Friend. My vision is failing in my right optic. Let's get a ground bridge home." Optimus said nothing more. His thoughts turning toward his team and his adopted son, Bumblebee.

Ratchet could only nod and comm. Raf for the ground bridge. The green portal burst open and both Autobots entered the ground bridge with heavy sparks. The ground bridge winked out in an instant.

Arcee, Bumblebee and the children were waiting when they returned. The grim set of Ratchet's faceplates as well as the faltering steps of Optimus shocked them all. All of them began to ask questions at one time causing a terrible din in the small room for the ground bridge.

"Silence!" Ratchet roared as he supported Optimus.

They all fell silent.

"The Autobot beacon was from a ship carrying Autobots infected with Cybonic plague. Optimus was accidentally infected." Ratchet explained as he supported the weakening Prime and led him out to the medbay.

Arcee grabbed Bumblebee and jerked him away from the pair. Bumblebee was trying to shake her off, "Bee, you can get infected." Bee buzzed and whirred at her and roughly pushed her away to follow his adopted parents. Bee's spark was pulsing wildly in his chamber in abject horror. Cybonic plague was lethal and swift. The only Sire he had ever known was going to die in an orn.

Bumblebee stood at the door of the medbay and watched Ratchet settle Prime. There was nothing more he could do. "Carrier, Sire is going to die?" Bumblebee buzzed painfully. He began to click and chirr in sparkling chatter as tears began to fall.

Optimus turned his helm toward the crying youngling and flared his EM field to try to calm Bumblebee.

"Don't cry, Bumblebee. Ratchet will take care of you." Optimus whispered in a strangled tone. Optimus knew Bumblebee was not weaned yet and would suffer terribly with the loss of his Sire, but Optimus held no hope.

Ratchet cleaned and sterilized his entire frame and protoform before approaching the distraught youngling. Bumblebee flung himself at Ratchet. Ratchet embraced the yellow scout and held him close.

"_Carrier, Sire can't die!" _Bumblebee pled on the internal comm. Ratchet ventilated heavily.

"We will do our best to save Optimus." Ratchet said as he opened his chest plates to offer physical solace to Bumblebee. Bumblebee shook his helm no and pushed away from Ratchet and made his way to Optimus.

"Can I touch him, Carrier?" Bee buzzed in Cybertronian shorthand.

Ratchet nodded. "It is only infectious through energon contact. Drops of infected energon fell into Optimus' optics. He is not bleeding energon…yet. You may hold his hand."

Ratchet knew eventually the energon veins, arteries and capillaries would burst inundating the Prime's frame with plague and his spark would extinguish shortly thereafter, but it would be human days before that happened.

Bumblebee gently grasped his adopted Sire's hand. "We won't let you die, Sire."

Optimus tightened his hand around Bumblebee's hand. Taking comfort in his son's love.

Ratchet's hardened his resolve. There had to be a way.


	2. Chapter 2

Bumblebee was a silent guardian beside Optimus' berth. Ratchet tried to convince the youngling to spend time with the children, go to monitor duty or patrol. Bumblebee adamantly refused to do anything that would take him away from the only Sire he had ever known. Optimus was silent for the most part. He would moan softly from the pain of the necrotizing effect of Cybonic plague. With each soft moan, fresh tears of grief and pain would fall from the little, yellow scout's optics. Optimus would tighten his hand around his son's to offer what little solace he could.

Ratchet sighed as he watched his child suffer. Bumblebee's EM field was retracted so much it was like as second layer of armor. Indeed, Ratchet was suffering, too. Optimus was their leader…more than that he was Ratchet's friend and co-parent for Bumblebee. He turned and left the medbay, he had to explain to the children who were huddled in confusion on the balcony. They saw when Ratchet stumbled through the ground bridge supporting Optimus.

Ratchet slowly walked up with heavy peds to the children. The EM fields of the Autobots were withdrawn and tight around the others showing their worry. Ratchet ventilated heavily, "Optimus is infected with Cybonic Plague. It was created by Megatron, himself or so rumors say." Ratchet shook his helm mournfully.

Raf asked, "So…you have cure….don't you?"

Ratchet sighed and nodded in the negative.

Jack listened and then quickly said, "Well, it's not like Megatron to create a disease with no cure is it? What if he caught it?"

Bulkhead snorted, "Not like we can ask him. Ole Megatron is pushing up lug nuts!"

"Well, maybe it is on the Nemesis' databases?" Ratchet murmured. "We could send someone in while we still have the ship's location."

Arcee straightened. "I'll go in." Arcee was the logical choice…small, lithe and discrete.

The bots and the humans turned to a buzzing at the doorway as Bumblebee entered. He had overheard everything.

Arcee replied to chirs and chitters of Bumblebee, "Okay, you in?"

Bumblebee nodded with optics shining with hope and determination. Ratchet stepped in and looked the young bot in the optics, "You aren't going anywhere, Bumblebee, until you fuel up."

Bumblebee went to refuse until he felt the warmth and encouragement from his Carrier. The young bot had refused his evening rations and was running low on energy. Ratchet opened his chest plates revealing taut and full feeding pouches flush with warm, sweet youngling energon. Ratchet washed his EM field over Bumblebee is warmth and encouragement. Bumblebee would be a good companion for Arcee on this trip.

Bumblebee quickly followed Ratchet who was retreating to a berth to get comfortable. Bee scrambled up onto his Carriers berth and snuggled up to Ratchet basking in the warmth and security of his Carrier's EM field and love. Bumblebee's response caused Ratchet's letdown reflex to online. Energon began to drip and squirt from his feeding nubs. Bumblebee retracted his battle mask and ran his glossa around catching the few drops of energon that were running down his faceplates. He then leaned in and ran his glossa around Ratchet's right feeding nub, Bumblebee's favorite, relishing the taste of his Carrier's protoform and energon. Bumblebee latched on the nub and was rewarded with a full gush of sparkling energon. Bumblebee buzzed in hazy pleasure of feeding. He could feel Ratchet's gentle caresses to his audio horns and murmured clicks of love for his child. Bumblebee wanted to lose himself to the wonderful sensations of nursing and fall into recharge, but he would not allow himself that pleasure. His optics kept darting back to his ailing Sire. Bumblebee finished feeding from the first line and came off of the nub with a wet pop. He quickly latched on the left nub and drained it.

"Thank you, Carrier." Bumblebee buzzed as he slid down from the berth ready to go with Arcee to help his Sire.

Bumblebee quickly joined Arcee as Ratchet threw open the ground bridge, "Arcee, hurry."

Arcee and Bumblebee quickly ran into the ground bridge. Instantly the two found themselves on the Nemesis. They began to search for the databases.


End file.
